17 days to take BEC

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  • August 21, 2018 at 8:24 am #1937395
    paigenicole628
    Participant

    So as an attempt to take the rest of my exams before the close of the quarter, I have given myself only 17 days to study for BEC. I’ve heard of people passing it with less prep than that, so I know there’s a slight chance that it’s possible.

    My question is this : for those of you who have studied for BEC in a short period of time, or even at all, what advice could you give me to maximize those 17 days? My job doesn’t start until after the quarter closes, so thankfully I have the luxury of being able to study full time, except that I am moving halfway through my 17 days. So I realistically have 2 weeks of full time studying available to me. How should I use that time? (I use Becker). Do the Sims or skip them? Hammer MCQs? Take good notes during the lectures or just listen to lectures on 2x speed? What do y’all think?

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  • August 21, 2018 at 8:44 am #1937443
    CPYAYYY
    Participant

    BEC has a ton of information and formulas to memorize. If you are studying full time it might be doable. I work full-time so it definitely wouldn't be doable. I definitely think you shouldn't underestimate this section though. I would do lectures, skills practice, and MCQ's. I've never done the simulations for any of the sections I've taken.

    August 21, 2018 at 9:01 am #1937491
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hi @Paigenicole628, although probably not ideal, I would say its definitely possible. I took about twice that long on BEC, but I was already working and going to school still. I skipped most all of the sims and all of the skills practices. For me, I was able to read the lectures for myself (as opposed to watching them) much faster and then hammer through the MC. As for taking notes during the lectures, I really only did that on topics I was very unfamiliar with. On the written communications, just make sure you know the general format and proper English- I think practicing many of these is a waste of time, and they're not really graded on correctness anyhow.

    August 21, 2018 at 9:10 am #1937509
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    It really depends on how what you used in the past to help you pass the other exams. Did you need the lectures and skills practice to pass the other exams? Sometimes those are helpful, sometimes they just waste time. I would leave those for topics you have a difficult time understanding. I would hit the multiple choice as much as possible. I am taking BEC in two days and I have averaged hitting each MCQ 4 times over the course of three weeks. For the simulations, just read over the WC examples to see how they respond to the questions and the level of detail they go into. Just have a decent understanding of the major topics in BEC. Use the outlines that Becker provides for each of the 6 chapters. I take the last few days to go over the outlines in case I stumble on something that I completely forgot about. It is a good way to remind you of what you need to go back any review that one last time.

    I will have studied 3.5 weeks as of my exam on Thursday. I think I might have watched 5 lectures in total and read 10% of the text. Problem with the text and lectures is that it is too high level and very basic. It does not actually prepare you to answer the ‘difficult' multiple choice questions. I bet you have come across several multiple choice questions in the past even for the other CPA exams that you were not even able to answer using the text. You basically just rely on the ‘explanation' section when you answer the question. Sometimes those explanation sections are far better than the text alone. Consider prioritizing you study time this way if you are limited in time.

    I am not trying to down the text or lectures, they are definitely useful for a new topic that you have never heard about and even in some sections like FAR, the text is great for some topics. All I am saying is don't consider reading the textbook as a primary source of studying, just use it as a supplement for problem areas.

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